HOLYOKE - The next school superintendent will be paid $140,000 to $170,000 a year and face a residency requirement, the School Committee decided Monday.

The committee set conditions to be listed in the advertisement that will be posted in trade publications in the next few weeks to draw candidates.

The search is on to have a replacement step in when Superintendent David L. Dupont retires after the current school year in June.

Dupont makes $144,000 a year, in his third year as superintendent and 40th with the system.

The plan is to have a Jan. 4 application deadline. Semi-finalists will be interviewed Jan. 23 to 31, three to five finalists will be interviewed March 4 to 7 and a superintendent will be appointed March 7, according to a timeline provided late last month by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, of Boston, the School Committee's consultant in the search.

A change the committee made in the job conditions from the previous superintendent search three years ago was to loosen the educational-background requirement somewhat. That's to try to attract a broader array of candidates, including perhaps some with business backgrounds that would suit the Holyoke school system, officials said.

To reflect that, the key change in the new advertisement will add "preferred," as in, that a minimum of15 years of experience in education, including five in a central office or administration and five teaching in a pre-kindergarten to grade 12 system, is preferred.

Alex B. Morse

"They still may possess really good skills that may translate into being a really good superintendent in the city of Holyoke," said Mayor Alex B. Morse, chairman of the School Committee.

Michael J. Moriarty, committee member at large, agreed. That doesn't mean a business-background candidate will be hired but the change gives the committee access to potentially good candidates who otherwise would be screened out of consideration, he said.

"Once again, I still feel it should be an educator that's hired as the superintendent of schools," Greaney said.

The salary range was voted after a recommendation from Correira based on current superintendent salaries in the state.

Correira advised against declaring the residency requirement, saying it could be negotiated later. But Morse, Moriarty and others said a commitment on the city's part to pay someone up to $170,000 a year should be matched by a commitment to live here and join the community.

In the previous superintendent search three years ago, residency wasn't a requirement, said Devin M. Sheehan, School Committee vice chairman.

A candidate would be given time to move here, officials said.

Also, Moriarty said, someone who wants to be superintendent should want to live here, if only for their political well being.

"This is a political job. I can't think of a more politically brain dead move than to take the job and not move here," Moriarty said.